Milford Sound
- 44.675167.92944444444Koordinaten: 44 ° 40 '30 " S, 167 ° 55' 46" E
The Milford Sound is a fjord on the South Island of New Zealand. The 15-kilometer long fjord is the most important tourist attraction of the Fiordland National Park in the southwest of the island, and thus is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Milford Sound was named after the Welsh town of Milford Haven. In the language of Māori it is called Piopiotahi. Rudyard Kipling had once called the Sound the eighth wonder of the world.
Natural space
The fjord was formed by the glacial movements of the ice ages. The Milford Sound extends 15 kilometers from the Tasman Sea to the land and is surrounded by up to 1,200 meters high rock walls. The highest elevation is the Mitre Peak ( bishop's miter ) with 1692 meters.
Due to the orographic rainfall directly adjacent Southern Alps of Milford Sound is one of the wettest regions of the world. Yearly cost you up to 8000 mm of precipitation.
On the slopes grows a moderate rainforest. Each rainfall creates dozens of temporary waterfalls on the surrounding steep slopes, some of which reach a length of 1000 meters. However, the rain water can cause slippage of parts of the rainforest. In the water, seals, penguins and dolphins live.
The water of the fjord forms two layers. The heavier salty ocean water is covered by a layer of fresh water. This contains many dissolved by heavy rain from the ground tannins. This reign in the underlying salt water lighting conditions available otherwise only in far greater depths. Thus, for the Milford Sound flora and fauna of the deep sea watch.
Tourism
The natural beauty of the area attracts thousands of visitors every day. From Queenstown from one drive to Milford Sound takes over five hours; many bus rides there start from there as well as helicopter rides. A quicker way of Te Anau, where the 119 km long Milford Road begins, which was created specially for tourist purposes. The tour passes through unchanged mountainous regions, past the Mirror Lakes, Lake Gunn, with its overgrown with mosses and ferns enchanted forest before the 1200 m long drive through Homer Tunnel, which opens into a covered with rainforest canyon that leads to Milford Sound.
Boat trips to the sound offered by different companies, they start at Milford Sound Visitor 's Center. Hiking and Canoe rides are also available. An underwater observatory (Milford Deep ) makes it possible to see black coral, which are usually otherwise found only in deeper water. Normally the deadly for coral cover layer of fresh water is only a few meters deep, but coral is attached to a winch and can after heavy rains, which can grow the freshwater layer down, to be drained down. So they can survive in a very small depth. Also other marine animals such as sharks can be observed by the circumstances here.
Famous among hikers are the multi-day hiking tours around the Milford Sound. The most famous among them is the Milford Track, which takes about 4 days and is restricted from October to April to a group of migrants.
Others
On 8 February 2004, a spill of 13,000 liters of diesel fuel was discovered, which led to an oil spill that would sustain closed for two days while intensive cleaning measures have been made. Apparently, a tube is used to guide the fuel from the tanks. Several government spokesman declared that tourism would be harmed by this crime so, so this area remains unaffected. The damage to nature was low.